Fans react to meeting actress Selena Gomez before the Canadian premiere of Emilia Perez, during the Toronto International Film Festival, on Sept. 9.GEOFF ROBINS/AFP/Getty Images
Would you pay $300 to see a movie? Some Toronto film buffs are asking themselves that question as they face high resale prices for Toronto International Film Festival tickets being sold through Ticketmaster, the organization’s official vendor.
Midway through this week’s 49th annual TIFF, tickets for coveted festival titles Queer and Eden were being resold on Ticketmaster for as high as $357 and $343, respectively – nearly 10 times the original price that TIFF sets for regular festival screenings. A Wednesday screening of David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds, for instance, had resale tickets available for between $53.55 and $215.39 on Ticketmaster. To see the same movie on Thursday, tickets were available for TIFF-set prices of $28.
The pricey online resale market has come to define the ticket-buying experience for high-demand concerts and sporting events. Buyers resell tickets for whatever fans are willing to pay on platforms such as Ticketmaster and StubHub, which have become targets for consumer anger over increasingly unaffordable events. But the market is a relatively new experience for loyal festivalgoers, who have found the prices tricky to navigate.
Over the past week, Reddit and other popular online forums for TIFF attendees have been flooded with screenshots of triple-digit resale prices, with customers expressing frustration. Some have criticized the festival for allowing the option to resell through its official Ticketmaster platform.
For Toronto-based TIFF member Sarah Williamson, the resale prices she encountered for some titles were too high to justify buying a ticket. “It’s a movie. More than $100 seems excessive,” she told The Globe and Mail.
Williamson was excited to see filmmaker Sean Baker’s buzzy new film Anora, but balked at seat prices listed between $200 and nearly $300. “I’m a TIFF member who goes regularly throughout the year, and then I’m priced out of going to films that I kind of pay my membership to be able to go and see,” she said. TIFF members pay an annual fee and receive festival perks such as some discounts and complimentary tickets, as well as early access to ticket presales before the rest of the public.
Many filmgoers have snagged passes at their original prices, but even those have become more expensive as TIFF has steadily raised costs for base level tickets. This year, the price of a ticket to a regular TIFF screening ranges between $28 and $36. The same type of ticket cost between $26 and $32 a year ago, making inflation on the cheapest available ticket 7.7 per cent year-over-year, well above the national inflation rate of 2.5 per cent as of July. In 2022, the cheapest adult ticket was $19.
Tickets to premium screenings, such as those with red-carpet premieres and filmmaker Q&A sessions, cost between $41 and $95 at this year’s festival, up from $39 to $88 in 2023, and $27 to $80 in 2022. TIFF also introduced $350 “VIP seats” at this year’s festival for “superfans” to “rub elbows with the stars.” Rush tickets can be more affordable, but patrons must line up to buy them and there is no guarantee of getting a seat.
Representatives for TIFF did not respond to a request for comment by deadline. Ticketmaster directed The Globe to a blog post breaking down its pricing system, noting that standard tickets prices are set by event promoters, resale prices are determined by ticket holders, and any additional fees are split by the parties putting on the event, including venues, Ticketmaster and event promoters.
When asked last month about rising costs in a separate interview, TIFF’s chief executive Cameron Bailey noted that public events have become more expensive to put on, factoring in inflation and higher security costs. He also said TIFF’s most in-demand events are priced below market value.
“We try to balance it out, trying to price things in a way that allows us to be sustainable and bring the festival to the people every year,” Bailey said.
Richard Powers, an associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, said the phenomenon of high resale prices at a once-a-year, special event like TIFF is a classic case of supply and demand. Prices might drop if tickets go unsold before the event, but buyers will often pay the higher price to ensure they have a seat. Powers said there’s not much TIFF can do about prices on the resale market, and he doesn’t expect the festival’s reputation will take a hit, despite online outcry.
“I think it’ll be Ticketmaster and more of the stories around predatory pricing that’ll carry the day,” Powers said. “I don’t think TIFF will wear this at all.”
With a report from Barry Hertz.